Message in a Bottle
by acidonix
Summary: Good bye, family. Good bye, junior year. Good bye, horrible people. Good bye, life.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hi! I know I haven't been on in forever, I just got SUPER busy. I play competitive softball, so that took up all my weekends. And I graduated from middle school this year too, and I'm in three different high school classes, so that took a ton of time too **** But I'm back, and I've been doing a lot of writing this summer. Nothing is Ever the Same and Will Anything Ever be Back to Normal? will both be updated before the end of August. Also, do you guys want me to keep writing The Battle of the Labyrinth: Through Annabeth's eyes still? I feel like that was my least successful. Review and tell me if you want me to. This is a new story. I actually came up with the idea when my grandpa was out on the Oregon coast (I live in Portland, Oregon) and he found a message in a bottle. Of course, it never turned out to be anything interesting, just a kids name with all of his hobbies and things in it, but when I heard what he found, I immediately thought of this storyline. This will be a Percabeth story, even if it doesn't seem like it in the first few chapters. Enjoy!**

**Message in a Bottle**

**Did I just propose?**

June 17th, 2012

Marie Vanessa Chase

My whole life, I've always wondered why everyone was so judge mental. It was always "Oh, you haven't bought the latest perfume yet?" or, "I can't believe you're wearing that skirt to school. It totally shows your ass. Slut much?" Constantly, like a little ring in my ear I can't get rid of. I had never been able to escape. Until now.

First I just want to say sorry to my family. Mom, Dad. You have always been there for me. You were my safe place. You never questioned why I came home from school early, crying. Just held me. I love you. Malcolm, Matt, Bobby – You always lifted my spirits. Every time I was sad, or upset, all three of you would be there to tell a joke, make me laugh. I love you guys too.

Annabeth – My sister, my best friend, in this world of bitchy people and crazy things. I loved our late night chats, talking about boys, and friend problems. Luke Castellan, he was a big topic. And my 'best friend' Claire Fields. God, she was a _whore._ And, Annie? All those times you tried to get me to tell you whether or not she was really my friend? I just want to tell you that she wasn't. I hated her. And I hated myself for wanting to be like her. Popular, beautiful, lots of boyfriends. _That _was the only reason I was friends with her. I love you, Annabeth Isabella Chase.

Good bye, family.

Good bye, junior year.

Good bye, horrible people.

Good bye, life.

Percy

May 25th, 2014

_Will you marry me? _Four words that I just hadn't been able to say yet to my girlfriend, Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

I dipped my feet in the cool New York ocean water, watching Rachel play with our four year old son, Alex Jackson. She seemed so happy and content out here at our beach house; not like her normal stressed self in the city. Rachel and I had been dating for three years now, and it was our anniversary tomorrow. I had been planning on proposing for about a month now, but I just couldn't find the right time to pop the question.

Rachel and I had never had the most common twenty year old relationship. We had hooked up at a bar when we were eighteen. We weren't careful about it, and nine months later, Rachel came knocking on my door with a two day old baby. At first, we fought so much I thought I was just going to have to give up custody with Alex. But eventually we started to get along, seeing has how we had to be around each other so much. At Alex's year old birthday party, we kissed, and I asked her to be my girlfriend the next day.

"Daddy!" Alex's little voice rose barely above the waves. "Come in the ocean!" I laughed and swam out to where they were. I wrapped an arm around Rachel's waist, and held Alex in the other arm.

"Let me go, I want to show you something!" He whined.

I chuckled, and tightened my grip. "No buddy, it's not safe."

"But why?"

"Can you swim?"

"No."

"Then you can't let go of me." He sighed, and stopped struggling.

"Sweetie, are you hungry? It's lunchtime." Rachel asked Alex.

"Yea!" He bounded back into Rachel's arm.

"Are you coming?" She asked me.

"No, I'm gonna stay here and go for a walk along the water. I'll be up soon though." She nodded, knowing how much I loved the water. I pecked her cheek, and she waded out with a talkative Alex with her.

I watched them walk up the dune, then walked out of the water myself, going south along the water's edge. My father, Poseidon Jackson, owned a chain aquarium company and was extremely rich. He was always on the news for his charities and new aquarium openings. We both loved the water. My mom, Sally Jackson, used to tease us both, saying we were 'humans out of water'.

I kept my eyes on the stretch ahead of me. My feet padded softly against the sand. I looked out towards the ocean, and saw a huge wave coming for the shore. I stopped walking and waited for it to splash my feet. As it came crashing down, something heavy landed on my foot. Reaching down, I realized it was a bottle, with a little white slip of paper inside. My eyes widened as I popped the bottle open and pulled the small paper out. Inside, neat handwriting covered the page. My eyes scanned the paper, trying to read every single word of it, willing my dyslexia not to act up.

At first, I thought it was just some stupid girl note, where she wrote about her problems, and bottled it up, and wanted people to come find her and help her. But that wasn't it. The more I read on, the more I realized this was way more serious than that. A suicide note.

I was in no hurry to get back to our condo. I didn't really want to see Rachel that much, since I was still debating whether or not to give her the ring. And I needed time to think, also. I had to find this girls family. This note was meant for them. Her mom and dad must have thought she just did this to herself on impulse, leaving nothing behind for them to comfort themselves with. Her brothers, and sister, they must be so worried about her.

I was so lost in my thoughts, I almost passed the spot where I was supposed to turn up to get to the house. I sighed, and slipped the bottle into the inside of my coat, making my way up the small dune.

_I'll find this girl's family. _I promised myself.

Over the next twenty-four hours, I almost completely forgot about the bottle. Almost. Rachel, Alex and I had a great last full day at the beach. We swam at the club house, waded in the beach water, made a sand castle, and ate at our favorite restaurant. But, as the day progressed, I got more and more nervous. Tonight was the night that I was going to officially propose to Rachel, and I'll admit, I practically started shaking every time I thought about. I had made reservations for the nicest restaurant in Long Island, which had become our favorite restaurant to eat at.

I finished putting on my red tie, which matched with Rachel's favorite red cocktail dress. I pulled out the wine bottle from under the bed, and popped it open again. I read over and over what it said, trying to figure out a clue as to where they lived. But I found nothing.

It was so frustrating, knowing that I was stuck in New York, and could do nothing about it. I just wanted this trip to be over, so I could go home and find these people. I slipped the bottle into a pocket in my suitcase, so it would be easy to pack tomorrow. Rachel stepped out of the bathroom, looking beautiful as always.

"You ready?" She asks me. I nod silently, and take her hand. Jessica, our babysitter, was in the kitchen with Alex, making mac and cheese or something for dinner.

"Are you guys off?" Jessica asked.

"Yea, we'll be back in a few hours. Definitely by eleven." I said. "Are you guys good? Anything else you need?"

"No, we're good. Right, Alex?" Jessica looked down at him, a smile on her face.

"Yep!" He gave me the thumbs up. He absolutely adored Jessica. Sometimes, I thought he had a little crush on her.

"Alright." Rachel said. "Have him in bed by nine, please. The movie he picked out is over here. Turn the movie off, if it's past nine."

"Will do. Have fun you guys!" Jessica waved goodbye, Alex copying her actions.

"Bye sweetie!" Rachel and I waved goodbye back, and shut the door. Rachel sighed, and leaned against me. I laughed, and kissed her red curls.

"Long day?" I asked.

"Yes." Now it was her turn to laugh. We both climbed into the car, and were off.

Dinner went smoothly. We talked about Alex, what we were going to do about buying the new penthouse. I had slipped the ring to the waiter, with a little note that said _with the dessert._

We finished our main courses, and Rachel ordered a chocolate torte. I was praying this went well.

Rachel finished saying something, and I knew I was staring blankly at her. "Percy." She reached across the table and grabbed my hand. "Is everything ok? You've been distracted this whole dinner."

"Yea, yea, everything's great." I smiled at her, and she seemed to relax a little. After about five minutes, our chocolate torte came.

"Ooo yum!" She did a childish clap and I laughed. After that I was suddenly more relaxed about the whole 'proposing' thing. She took her first bite. The ring was propped against the tip of the cake, facing me. I would just wait until she took that bite.

"Mmm, that's good." She reached her fork back down for another bite, right at the tip. The ring clattered in front of her, and she dropped her fork. Her eyes turned wide, and her mouth formed a small 'o'. I got down on one knee, and took her hand, and the ring.

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Will you marry me?" I wasn't nervous at all anymore.

"Yes. Yes, yes, yes!" She half screamed, and threw her arms around my neck, and kissed me. I pulled away after a little while, and slipped the ring on her slender finger. I left three hundred dollar bills on the table, and we left the place. I looked at the time on my watch. It was only nine thirty, which meant we had an hour and a half until we had to be back. So, of course, like teenagers, we had one, two, maybe three rounds of car sex. It was an amazing night. I didn't regret asking Rachel to marry me at all anymore.

Little did I know, that this feeling of no regret wasn't going to last long.

**AN: AHHHH! I'm so excited I just finished my first chapter of this story. I feel like it's going to be my best one so far. Please, please, please review. Also, I won't be having any more author notes after one at the beginning of the next chapter to tell you guys if I'm going to continue the BOTL story. So, if you have any questions, you can always PM me. Thanks so much for the support. ILY ALL!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Message in a Bottle**

**Percy**

**Weddings and Suicides**

June 2nd, 2014

I sat at my computer, searching for the family. I had already searched Marie's name, and Malcolm's name. I typed in Bobby Chase. Nothing. Matt Chase. Nothing. The last name was Annabeth. I doubted there'd be anything on her either, seeing as my luck with everyone else was horrible. But it was worth a try. I had to try and find this girls family, to tell them what their daughter had said.

_Annabeth Chase. _I pressed enter. In a few seconds, results were up.

**Annabeth Chase – **Colombia University

Annabeth Chase is predicted to be Colombia's top student in all of the University, although she is only a first year student. Colombia was very happy to accept…

The rest of the results was nothing. I quickly clicked on the first one.

**Annabeth Chase – Colombia's best student ever?**

_First year freshman Annabeth Chase was accepted into Colombia the minute they saw her application. She had perfect grades, participated in many clubs, and played volleyball in the fall. She will be starting her first year at Colombia on September, 2__nd__, 2014, and Colombia will be expecting a lot from her. _

After that there was a lot of stuff about how she planned to go into architecture, and how she made the varsity volleyball team at Colombia. Nothing about how to contact her. But, maybe if I went to Colombia…

I hailed a cab quickly the next morning.

"Colombia University." I told the guy. I was there in under thirty minutes. I stepped out of the cab, and gazed up at the large domes. As long as I had lived in NYC, I had only drove by the university a few times.

It was beautiful. Something about the architecture, the design of the place. I didn't usually use the word beautiful to describe things, but this place was an exception. I took a deep breath, and walked in to the main office.

"Hello, how can I help you?" The front desk lady asked, smiling warmly.

"Um, hi, I'm looking for a freshman student here. Her information, I guess." I asked nervously. Most people didn't take it well when you asked for personal information.

She looked skeptical. "Which one?"

"Uh, Annabeth? Annabeth Chase."

"Do you know her?"

"Not exactly." I said. "I found something of hers that was at the beach, and I know she would want to see it."

"Can I see the item?" She asked. I hesitated. It was probably personal and I'm sure Annabeth and her family wouldn't want some stranger to see this letter. Although, I was also a stranger. I handed it over. If it got me her information, it would be worth it.

The woman's eyes widened. She clicked around a few times on her computer, and printed Annabeth's address, giving it to me. "Good luck." She gave me a faint smile, and slid the note across the counter.

**Annabeth**

June 4th, 2014

"Annabeth!" My evil stepmother Sue, screamed from inside the kitchen. "Can you come clean this mess up? I don't have time, I have to get the boys to soccer practice."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. It was always the same. She was constantly running around with the twins, Bobby and Matthew. Ever since her prized Marie had left, she was never the same. She had always hated me, since I was the result of an affair of my father's, but now I just reminded her of how much she loved Marie.

She sighed, and walked into the kitchen, not surprised to see that her brothers had spilled eggs all over the floor. She ran her hands through her hair, and set to work cleaning.

Annabeth really should've been working on her homework, but she knew if this wasn't done before Sue got home, she was going to be in big trouble. She was glad she had a few hours to herself today. The time was rare.

She had just finished wiping down the floor when the doorbell rang. _Crap. _She thought, not dressed in anything other than sweats and a tank top. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and she had no makeup on. She let her hair down, and took off her sweats, revealing leggings. It was a cold day in NYC.

She opened up the door, to something she had not expected to see. She figured it had been a solicitor or something, but no. Beautiful, deep, sea green eyes stared back at her.

"Hi, are you Annabeth Chase?" The guy asked, sounding nervous. "I'm Percy, Percy Jackson. I have something for you and your family, if their home."

"Yea, I'm Annabeth." Annabeth smiled warmly. "Come in." She wasn't one to trust very easily, but this guy made her feel safe. There was nothing about him that told her she shouldn't trust him.

"My family isn't home right now, actually, but they'll be back in a couple hours. Do you want something to drink?"

"No, it's alright." Percy said. "I just have something to give you." She laughed nervously. It wasn't everyday some stranger came into your home and told you they had something of yours.

"So…" Annabeth didn't know how to finish her sentence.

Percy silently handed over the piece of paper. It was crumpled and weathered. Loopy handwriting covered the page.

She knew that handwriting.

It was her dead sister's.

**Percy**

Percy sat there nervously, waiting for the girl's reaction. She was kind of intimidating, with large storm grey eyes, and beautiful curls. He didn't know what Annabeth would say. It wasn't every day you read a suicide note.

He had been relieved to see that she lived in New York City, not too far away from his own home with Rachel. Speaking of Rachel, she was a mess. She had always been a little OCD, but the wedding was making it worse. She couldn't even set a date yet. Percy had told her that was the easiest thing, but she didn't think so because she wanted it to be the perfect day, so everyone would remember it. In other words, things weren't going so well.

He looked up at Annabeth. He was so lost in his own thoughts, he didn't even notice she was silently crying. Tears streamed down her face.

She looked up at Percy, her grey eyes broken. "Did you know that the two year anniversary is coming up?" He could barely hear her, her words no more than a soft whisper. "Every time, it nears closer to the day of her death, my step mother Sue, gets really stressed. She drinks. She smokes. She does drugs." She breathed in shakily. "She beats me."

Percy just sat there, listening. He knew that she didn't want to hear, _I'm sorry, _or _you have my condolences. _She just needed someone to talk too. Percy knew about that. He instinctively pulled down his sleeves to cover the scars.

Annabeth laughed. "Look at me, spilling out my soul to a stranger. God, I'm so stupid."

Percy shook his head. "No, no, it's alright. I don't mind, really."

"How did you find it?" She asked, curious.

"I was actually on vacation with my… family, I guess. I was walking on the beach, and saw a bottle." He paused, and laughed to himself. "I've always thought it would be cool to find one of those. It would be like I was in a movie or something. Anyway, I found it and knew I should track your family down and give it to you."

Annabeth smiled grimly. "Thanks. You should probably get going, my step mother is going to be back soon."

Percy grimaced. "Are you sure you're ok?"

She nodded. "I'm fine. Thank you so much for bringing this by. It means a lot that someone out there took the time to find us. It fell into the right hands."

Percy smiled. "Thanks." He headed for the door, Annabeth behind him.

"Bye." She said quietly, and waved at him as he walked down the hallway of the apartment building. She shut the door, and Percy couldn't help but wonder if she was going to be alright.

**Annabeth**

After Percy had left, she read the letter over and over again. She couldn't help but think to herself what she could have done to stop this. Most of the letter was dedicated to Annabeth. Annabeth knew that Marie had always felt the closest to Annabeth out of anyone in the family. That's what had made Sue jealous. When Marie had a problem, she always went to Annabeth, although Annabeth was younger. It made Sue extremely mad that her own daughter didn't want to talk to her about things.

At first, Annabeth had liked that Marie had chosen her as her 'go to friend', but after a while, it wasn't a blessing. Sue started to get really angry. Not with Marie, with Annabeth. She would beat Annabeth after school (she always got home half an hour earlier than Marie) and she would tell Annabeth over and over again that it was her fault that Marie didn't like her anymore.

Annabeth didn't see it like that. She saw it as Marie and her were close to the same stage in life, and it was easier for her and Marie to relate than Marie and Sue. Eventually, Sue started to take it out on Marie too. It pushed Marie to the breaking point. The poor girl had been raped, beaten by her boyfriend, and had a drug addiction. When her family turned against her, that was it. Marie Vanessa Chase snapped.

"We're home, Annabeth." Sue walked through the door. _Yay! _Annabeth thought, and walked out of her room.

"Hi," She said. "I have something for you." She tucked a lock of curls behind her ear.

Sue sighed, annoyed. "What is it," She asked, folding her arms coldly. Annabeth motioned at the boys, signaling they shouldn't be there.

"Why don't you two go play with your new toys?" Sue told them. They ran into their room laughing and talking. Annabeth handed the letter over, and started to walk away. Sue probably wanted to be alone.

"Wait." Sue called out. "Who gave this to you?" She waved the letter in the air.

"A stranger showed up at our door while you were out. He said he found it while he was on vacation with his family at the beach. Apparently Marie had put it in a bottle and sent it out to sea."

Sue had a ghostly smile on her face. "That sounds like something she would do." Sue set the letter down. "I'll show it to your father when he comes home tonight. Thank you for showing it to me, Annabeth."

Annabeth smiled at her stepmother, the first time in months. It felt nice.


End file.
